“My turn.”
Those two words landed in Ella’s ears like the first footstep after a death sentence.
“Wait! Wait wait wait wait wait wait!”
Her voice shot up an entire octave, cracking sharply. Her hands flailed wildly in front of her, as if trying to swat away something invisible.
The severed piece of tentacle still floated on the water’s surface.
Its blackened stump bobbed gently with the ripples, a constant reminder—you’ve lost your greatest and only weapon.
I’m going to die! I’m going to die!
Without the tentacle, what could she possibly fight with?
Ella activated her top-tier Insect Mother intellect.
Her gaze darted frantically across every corner of the bathroom—window too small to squeeze through, door blocked by Yiwen, bathtub made of ceramic that wouldn’t break, faucet could be ripped off as a weapon?
Yeah, right. The woman across from her was literally toxic.
Her eyes finally settled on Dieyi’s face.
That impossibly beautiful face was watching her with an expression that clearly said, Let’s see what trick you’ll try next.
In the end, she reached only one conclusion—
The only way to avoid dying at Dieyi’s hands right now was—
To bite off her own tongue and end it immediately.
That way she could successfully avoid being beaten to death by Dieyi!
Hahahaha… She gave two dry laughs inside her mind. There was zero joy in them.
“I’ve neutralized the toxin. Come here.”
Dieyi reached out and grabbed Ella’s arm.
“Let go!”
Ella’s body instinctively recoiled.
Her hands clamped onto the edge of the bathtub, nails scraping across the tiles with a shrill screech.
Her legs kicked wildly underwater, splashing water that soaked Dieyi’s hair and shoulders.
But the strength of this body—this slender, fragile girl’s body that couldn’t even break free from chains—was nothing compared to what she used to have.
Against Dieyi, she was nothing more than a toy to be toyed with.
Dieyi’s fingers locked around her upper arm. The grip wasn’t tight, yet it felt like an iron vice.
Ella could feel the warmth of that hand—warm, wet, carrying the steam.
Her body went rigid.
“To be honest—”
Dieyi’s voice drifted down from above her head, still lazy, yet carrying a texture Ella had never heard before.
“I hate you very, very much.”
Ella’s heartbeat skipped.
“You performed so many experiments on me. The pain you gave me—even after all these years—”
Her thumb gently stroked Ella’s arm. The motion was almost tender.
“I still can’t forget it.”
The steam in the bathroom seemed to freeze for a moment.
After a brief blank in her mind, Ella’s brain kicked into an absurd coping mechanism even she found ridiculous.
“Quick, forget it! Forget it right now!”
Her voice suddenly turned light and rapid, like someone reciting from a script.
“Forget all of it and start a new life! You know how it is! People can’t stay trapped by hatred and the past forever! You have to learn to look forward!”
She even forced a smile onto her face.
The smile was so stiff it looked nailed in place, the curve of her lips so unnatural that even she felt how fake it was.
Dieyi looked at her.
For a very long time.
“Heh.”
Then she laughed. This time the smile wasn’t mocking.
“Not bad at all, Your Majesty Insect Mother.”
Her gaze lingered on Ella’s face. Crimson pupils pierced through the steam, calm yet sharp.
“So, can you also forget—the fact that we blew up your insect nest?”
Ella’s smile shattered.
“That’s—that’s completely different!”
Her voice spiked.
Her fingers unconsciously tightened on the tub’s edge until her knuckles turned white.
“The insect nest was everything to me! My everything!”
Her eyes reddened—not from sorrow, but from rage. A rage that burned up from her marrow, uncontrollable.
“I will make you pay for this! One day I’ll turn all of you into insatiable and throw you into the slime insects’ nest! Let them breed entire football teams on your bodies!”
Her voice echoed sharply and hoarsely inside the bathroom.
Dieyi did not get angry.
She did not even frown.
She simply tilted her head and regarded Ella with the kind of look one might give a small animal frantically slamming itself against the bars of a cage whose door had never been locked.
“Wow, still quite the smooth talker, Your Majesty.”
Her voice drawled.
“Do you understand—you’re the mosquito on the spider web now?”
Ella’s voice caught in her throat.
The mosquito on the spider web.
Zhuluo’s eight eyes flashed through her mind.
The four spider legs that had clamped her tentacle.
The transparent fluid that had leaked when the barbs sank into soft tissue.
She suddenly realized one thing.
Everyone on this ship was stronger than her.
Every single one.
She did not even have the right to run.
Tch…
She cursed inwardly.
I will get revenge.
I definitely will.
I definitely will.
After making that resolve, Ella lifted her head.
Her gaze changed.
The ferocity and madness from moments ago vanished.
Those crimson pupils turned soft and obedient, like a white cat that had retracted all its claws and was ready to be petted.
She did not realize—choosing revenge instead of immediately escaping to rebuild her swarm somewhere else was already an extremely un-pragmatic, extremely un-Insect-Mother decision.
A true Insect Mother would calculate gains and losses at every possible moment.
If the nest was destroyed, she would simply start over elsewhere.
If the enemy was too strong, she would retreat first and strike later.
But she did not think about any of that.
All she thought about was—
Revenge.
Right here on this ship. On these people. Right now. She would find the chance.
“What do you want?”
Her voice became very soft, carrying a delicate, pitiable quality.
Her lashes lowered slightly, trembling gently in the steam like a butterfly whose wings had been soaked by rain.
Dieyi’s eyebrow rose slightly.
“Face me.”
Ella hesitated for a heartbeat, then turned.
Her body and face now pointed straight toward Dieyi.
The distance between them was so small that Ella could see the tiny scale powder on Dieyi’s collarbones and smell the faint mix of floral scent and hot steam on her skin.
“Good.”
Dieyi’s gaze lingered on Ella’s face for a moment, then moved downward.
“Next—”
“Eh?! You?!”
Ella felt two forces appear at her hips—Dieyi’s hands.
Those hands pushed forward. Her body slid helplessly toward Dieyi.
Water rippled. Waves lapped against the tub’s edges with soft splashes.
Her knees bumped against Dieyi’s legs underwater. Her waist met Dieyi’s hands. And then—
Her chest pressed fully against Dieyi’s chest, tight and inseparable.
She could feel Dieyi’s heartbeat—steady, calm, roughly sixty beats per minute.
She could feel Dieyi’s body heat, a little higher than her own, like a butterfly that had just finished sunbathing.
She could feel Dieyi’s breathing, every rise and fall causing their chests to press together gently.
Ella’s face flushed instantly from the base of her neck all the way to her ears.
“I’ve waited so, so long for this moment, Your Majesty. As your servant, I really have waited for a very long time~”